


Playing Truant

by DNash (MonkeyBard)



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-28
Updated: 2006-02-28
Packaged: 2018-08-15 17:58:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8067262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonkeyBard/pseuds/DNash
Summary: Trip and Malcolm get caught playing truant. (10/14/2004)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fits chronologically nowhwere that I can figure out. Maybe it's a random S4 ficlet. I don't know. It's just a goofy little thing that I hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

"Are you nuts?" he whispered as he tried to ignore the bite in his elbow.

Malcolm only grinned wickedly and took another nip at the soft flesh in the bend of Trip's arm.

It was almost, but not quite, enough for Trip to pull the sleeve of his black uniform shirt back down. There was just something too titillating about the possibility of getting caught for him to abandon the game. Besides, it was a warm day. He'd long ago unzipped his coveralls so he could tie the sleeves around his waist and had, until moments ago, contemplated removing his shirt. _Hell,_ he thought, _if we were alone down here I'd've already stripped to my skivvies to enjoy the sunshine…and more,_ his mind added as Malcolm continued to nip at his arm.

"What if she comes back early?" Trip continued to speak in an undertone, even though there was no one else in the open shuttlepod but him and Malcolm.

"Have you ever known Cormack to be early for anything?" Malcolm murmured, nibbling a trail up Trip's arm.

Trip shivered despite the heat. He was having trouble thinking. "Maybe. I dunno," he stammered. "There's a first time for everything."

Reaching Trip's pushed-up sleeve, Malcolm took it in his teeth and tugged at it like a playful puppy. He turned cool blue eyes on his lover. "This is in my way," he said, releasing the sleeve abruptly. "It needs to go."

Trip intended to protest. He opened his mouth, expecting something to come out that sounded at least remotely like "Not now," or even "No." He wasn't given the chance.

Malcolm captured Trip's open mouth, quickly insinuating his tongue inside. Trip groaned in pleasure and promptly gave in to his and his lover's desires.

*****

Malcolm came awake slowly, the thick darkness giving way to gray, and then finally the details crept back and he realized he was in sickbay-again-lying on one of the recovery beds.  
  
"Hey."   
  
Blinking to focus his vision, he saw the blonde, curly head of Ensign Stephanie Cormack.   
  
"Hello."  
  
"Commander Tucker's been here all night. He had to go on shift so I told him I'd sit with you until you woke up."  
  
"Thank you," Malcolm choked out. His mouth felt like someone had stuffed it with cotton wool. Still he tried to speak again. His head hurt and he couldn't remember what had happened to put him here, but he was determined to find out.   
  
"You don't remember, do you?"  
  
Malcolm shook his head slowly, immediately regretting it when the movement caused pain to shoot up his neck and nausea to threaten with rising bile.  
  
Stephanie held a small container near his head until the wave passed, thankfully without anything coming up.   
  
"Stay still and you won't have that problem. I love you like a brother, Malcolm, but not enough to let you throw up on me."  
  
He knew by her tone of voice that everything was going to be just fine. In fact, when he forced weary eyes to focus properly, he could see the telltale signs of a smirk curling Stephanie's lips. Suddenly his stomach sank and he didn't think it had anything to do with his injuries. Even though his whole body ached, Malcolm listened in dread and anticipation as she explained the accident on the away mission.

*****

Trip and Malcolm lay naked and satiated on the floor of the shuttlepod. Articles of clothing were strewn randomly over control panels and seats. Trip looked up and laughed when he spotted Malcolm's underwear hanging from a rung of the aft exit ladder.

"How the hell did those get up there?" he wondered aloud.

Malcolm followed Trip's gaze with his own. "I have no idea."

They continued to lay there, arms and legs entwined. A soft breeze blew through the craft's open hatches, cooling flesh heated by passion.

"Mmmm," sighed Trip happily.

"You see?" Malcolm said. "I do know what's best, don't I."

It wasn't a question, but Trip answered anyway. "You do." He brushed a lock of hair off his lover's flushed forehead.

"I do."

They smiled at one another, and Trip leaned forward to kiss Malcolm gently on the lips before moving along his jaw and down to his neck.

Malcolm pulled Trip closer, pressing the full length of their bodies together. He felt a twitch in his groin-a sure sign that he'd be ready for a second round before very long.

Trip felt it, too, and grinned against his lover's neck. "We should get out more often," he murmured, sending a thrill of vibration through Malcolm's body. "Fresh air's good for us."

"Cormack to Pod One."

The call startled them both so violently that Trip literally fell off Malcolm, and Malcolm sat up so quickly that he smacked his head hard against the underside of the navigation station.

"Shit!" swore Trip. He frantically reached for the port hatch and pulled it shut.

"Pod One, please come in."

Inside the pod Malcolm sat momentarily stunned, holding his head with one hand. Trip tossed him his underwear. "Put those on!" he ordered. The electric blue briefs hit Malcolm in the chest and fell into his lap. He didn't pick them up.

"She's not outside the door," he said logically, blinking through the pain in his head. "Answer the comm. It's not like there's a visual signal to the communicators."

Stephanie's voice came again. This time it was laced with concern. "This is Cormack. Pod One, please respond."

Common sense finally overriding panic, Trip opened the comm line. He tried not to sound naked when he replied. "Tucker here. What is it?"

There was relief in her voice this time. "You had me freaked out for a second there. I just thought I'd let you know I'm on my way back. I'll be there in about five minutes."

"You'll…" Panic reasserted itself. Trip looked out through the pod's front window. There at the far edge of the clearing he saw a small, blue figure. He immediately crouched down so as not to be visible in return. "Understood. Tucker out." He abruptly closed the line and spun to lock eyes with Malcolm. His eyes blazed. "Have you ever known Cormack to be early for anything?" He mimicked his lover's accent convincingly.

Malcolm countered with a Southern drawl and "There's a first time for everything." He quickly pulled on his underwear and began to look for more of his clothes. He found his coveralls and one boot. "Where the hell is my other boot?"

"Screw your boot. Where the hell's my underwear?!" demanded Trip frantically. He'd found and donned his blue undershirt and black, long-sleeved overshirt, but he was still naked from the waist down.

Malcolm pulled on his coveralls. He winced as he caught several chest hairs in the zip, but he muscled through the pain. His eyes frantically searched the small pod for the missing bits of his uniform. "It's got to be here. It's all got to be here!" Realizing the starboard hatch was still open, he reached to close it. As he did he caught sight of two things outside: Ensign Cormack and Trip's underwear. "Open the other hatch!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Caught up sorting through random bits of clothing in search of his missing briefs, Trip wasn't paying attention.

Malcolm took a single stride to cross the pod and threw open the port hatch. "She's got to come in through this side!"

Trip gave up searching and pulled on his coveralls. He was extremely careful not to catch anything in the zipper as his did it up. "Why?"

Rather than answering, Malcolm dove back to the starboard hatch. He meant to jump out, retrieve Trip's underwear, dash back inside, and then shut the hatch. He was half successful. He leaped out and snatched up the errant blue briefs. Spotting his missing boot outside in the long grass, he grabbed that, too. But he was in such a rush to get back inside that he misjudged the height of the pod. His bare foot caught on the edge of the hatch and he fell. Malcolm did a full body slam into the deckplating, knocking the air from his lungs and smacking his head for the second time against the nav console. His boot flew from one hand and struck the sensor station console, opening up a crack in the computer panel before bouncing toward the back of the pod. He would have moaned as he rolled over, but he didn't have the breath. Instead he laid there with Trip's underwear still clutched in one hand, gasping like a landed fish.

"Malcolm!" exclaimed Trip, kneeling next to him.

Malcolm waved him away with the hand holding the briefs. Trip noticed and grabbed them from him, stuffing them frantically into a pocket. He rose up on his knees in time to see Stephanie crossing in front of the pod toward the port hatch.

"Hey," she called, oblivious of the panic inside. "You guys in there?"

Malcolm rolled to one side and crawled forward, hoping to push himself upright out of sight of the approaching ensign. Unfortunately, his flailing hand landed on the cracked console. A sharp burst of electricity zinged through him and he stiffened, anchored to the spot.

"Malcolm!" shouted Trip again. He dove at him, tackling him away from the panel and out the open hatch. The pair landed in a heap at Stephanie's feet.

*****

Malcolm moaned and covered his eyes with one hand. It all came rushing back to him as she described her surprise at seeing him and Trip fly out of the pod's hatch and land on the grass in front of her.

"You were out cold. You scared the hell out of me and Tucker." But Stephanie couldn't help smirking now that Malcolm was awake and looking mortified. "If anyone asks you, his story is that you two went for a walk and couldn't resist the chance to feel the grass under your feet. That's why you were both barefoot. Now these…" She pulled something from the pocket of her uniform.

Malcolm peered out from between his fingers and recognized the item immediately. Trip's underwear. He closed his eyes and groaned again.

Stephanie chuckled mercilessly. "They fell out of his pocket in the hustle of getting you to sickbay. I didn't have a chance to give them back to him personally. Phlox was always around."

Malcolm opened his eyes again and lowered his hand, grabbing the bright blue regulation briefs from her and shoving them under the covers of the biobed. "Thank you," he said, his face a mix of gratitude and humiliation.

"You're welcome." She rose. "I'll tell Phlox you're awake." She turned to go, but Malcolm's voice stopped her.

"Wait."

She turned back. "Yeah?"

"On second thought… If you don't mind…" He wished he could sink into the bed and vanish, but he made himself go on. "He'll want to examine me, undoubtedly."

"Undoubtedly."

"Then…perhaps you'd…take these back?" He pulled the briefs back out.

Stephanie had never fought so hard not to laugh in her life. Her cheek quivered despite her efforts as she solemnly received the underwear and returned them to her pocket. "I'll just toss them in the ship's laundry, shall I?"

"Please."

"Right. I'll tell Phlox you're awake," she repeated as if the brief exchange had never happened.

"Please," Malcolm said again.

Stephanie stepped outside the privacy curtain, shutting it behind her.

Malcolm winced and blushed as he heard her burst into peals of uncontrollable laughter.

*****

 

**Author's Note:**

> There was a First Lines meme going around Live Journal, and two of my friends were playing. Their games sparked this little ficlet that simply refused to go away until I spewed it all onto the screen. Hopefully JennyB will forgive my alterations to her first line, and my stealing of the scene she wrote off of Leah's first line. You two are just dangerous. I'd almost be sorry I introduced you to one another if you weren't so much fun. ;-> Oh, and ten points to the first person who spots the nod to Scott Bakula in this fic.
> 
>  **Credit where it's due:** Here are the original first lines usurped for my own nefarious purposes:  
>  JennyB: "Are you nuts?" I whispered in his ear as I tried to ignore the bite of his fingers in my elbow.  
> Leah: Malcolm came awake slowly, the thick darkness giving way to gray, and then finally the details crept back and he realized he was in sickbay--again--lying on one of the recovery beds.


End file.
